This invention relates in general to lenticular imaging and relates more particularly to an integral lenticular image box for displaying several individual or related lenticular images.
Lenticular images include an array of cylindrical lenses (or lenticules) in a lenticular material and a sequence of spatially multiplexed images that are viewed through the lenticular material so that different ones of the multiplexed images are viewed at different angles by the viewer. One image effect produced by the lenticular image is a depth or stereoscopic image where the lenticules are oriented vertically and one eye views one image of a stereo pair or sequence from one angle and the other eye views another image from the stereo pair. Another image effect is a motion image where different images on a motion image sequence are viewed by both eyes, while changing the angle at which the image is viewed. In this image effect, the lenticules can be oriented in either the horizontal or vertical direction and the lenticular material is rotated about the long axis of the lenticules. Other effects that combine these two effects, or form collages of unrelated images that can be viewed from different viewing angles can be provided. Other effects include zoom images (one or more images are zoomed from wide angle to narrow angle views), flip images (images of different scenes which may or may not be related), animation images (images simulate motion of an unanimate object), computer generated images, or combinations of different effects.
Lenticular images are formed by decomposing each of several images into image elements equaling the number of lenticules in the lenticular lens element. A set of image elements are multiplexed, one image element for each of the several images, for each lenticule. Thus, if there are ten images and one hundred lenticules, each of the ten images are decomposed into one hundred image elements, and a set of ten image elements, one for each image are associated with each lenticule.
The multiplexed images can be generated as a digital image file and scan printed directly onto a lenticular lens element having a recording layer or printed as a master print which is used to contact print on print media which is laminated to a lenticular lens element or which forms a recording layer of the lenticular lens element.
Typically, two to thirty images can be multiplexed into a single lenticular image. However, there are applications where it is desirable to present a sequence of a hundred or more images constituting an extended motion or animated sequence or to present several different lenticular images in the same lenticular image product. Multisided devices are known for displaying a plurality of pictures. (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,657, issued May 10, 1994, inventor Spencer; U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,960, issued Jul. 3, 1990, inventor Otake; U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,768, issued Oct. 3, 1989, inventors Watt et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,252, issued Jul. 13, 1993, inventor Haluska; U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,060, issued Aug. 19, 1989, inventors Carbo et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,561,146, issued Feb. 9, 1971, inventor Dembar). It is also known to provide a multisided lenticular device to display a plurality of lenticular images (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,346, issued Dec. 9, 1997, inventor Sekiguchi et al., FIGS. 155-159, col. 40, line 39, col. 41, line 26). These devices include many parts, and are complex and expensive to manufacture.
There is thus a need to provide a lenticular image product that can display a large number of images but which has few parts and is simple and inexpensive to manufacture.
According to the present invention, there is provided a solution to the problems discussed above.
According to a feature of the present invention, there is provided a lenticular image product comprising an integral bendable lenticular lens sheet formed into a six-sided cube, said lenticular lens sheet having lenticular lens facing outwardly of said cube, at least two contiguous sides of said cube having lenticular images viewable through said lenticular lens which display a motion or animation sequence extending from one side to said contiguous side when said cube is rotated about on axis of rotation, said lenticular lens extending parallel to said axis of rotation.
The invention has the following advantages.
1. A lenticular image product is provided that can display a large number of images (100 or more).
2. The lenticular image product is unitary in structure and is simple and inexpensive to manufacture.